Thousands Estonians pay taxes to the wrong state

Thousands of people who work both in Estonia and Finland pay social insurance taxes to both states which can cause problems in payment of state benefits, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

The golden rule is that employers
have to pay taxes for the employee to just one state – the one where a person
works more.

The majority of Estonians work in
Finland in construction sphere but there are also a lot of medical workers and
customer service staff. According to Finnish data, around 57,000 Estonians have
accumulated pensions in Finland. These people may not receive the pensions and
compensations if social tax has been paid for them at the same time in Estonia
too.

Finnish Pension Board international
affairs specialist Marjaana Lundqvist
said that according to European Union laws, a person can have social insurance
only in one state. "This is the main rule and has to be fulfilled. If a
person works and pays taxes in two states, then it has to be determined which
country is the right one. This has to be ascertained even after the fact."

Many Estonians work a part of the
time in Estonia, a part in Finland. This concerns people like medical workers
who have some shifts in one and some in the other state.

An employee has to ascertain which
country's social insurance he benefits from before starting to work.

According to Finnish data, hundreds
of double insurance situations are currently under investigation.

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